my car won't start! whats wrong?
 

last night i had a little bit of an issue with the Trans Am. came out to the car after eating, went to start the car, and as soon as i fully turned the key the car completely died. no lights, radio, nothing, completely dead.

like 5 minutes later, without doing anything, the lights start working again, and i can use all of the electronics, radio, windows, all lights, locks, perfectly fine. So i try to start it up again, and once i turn the key all the way, its dead again.

this is still happening today. i tried jump starting the car and that did nothing, it has just continued to go though the same pattern: die, come back on after a while, and then die again when i try to start it up.

what the hell is wrong?? when it dies there's a loud click sound when it cuts out. this same thing was happening with the camaro a while ago, and it turned out to just be the battery terminals being a little loose. but that's not the case with the T/A, so i'm wondering whats wrong. My dad suggests the starter is probably the problem.

what do you guys think? i haven't had ANY other issues with the car of this sort, so this is completely out of the blue. ended up needing to get towed home from ihop at 1:30 in the morning...

Could be VATS?

When my wire broke on the key cylinder... it cost $500 to fix :( (dealership)

aww damn, i hope that's not it then. i was hoping for a not too expensive fix

anything else guys?

I would think it's your VATS also. Did the security light come on at all after trying to start it? I had a similar problem years ago, its the chip on the key not being read and the car is basicly keeping itself from being stolen in a way. One of 2 things fella, get a new key and try it, or swap a new key cylinder. You could have the same thing that Pitbull329 had and have a broken wire too. But that is the direction you should head in bro, not the starter :D

Also try using some "non-silcone" electonics cleaner or MAF cleaner where the key goes in. If there is any kind of nastiness built up in there it can do the same thing. Get a small bowl or tupperware container to catch the excess of cleaner that will end up falling on the carpet. That and clean the chip on the key with a toothbrush and some of that cleaner also. It wont hurt anything to do that.

^alright thanks for the tips. i'll try the cleaning, and if that fails i'll llook into the other options.

Let us know if that works! Hopefully its just dirty and won't require an expensive fix.

have you checked your battery cable to the battery, they may have come loose.

make sure battery cable connections are clean. had a similar problem and found the + cable that ran to the battery was corroded. cleaned it and car started up fine.

you can also check your fuses in the fuse box, interchange the fuel pump/ignition/starter ones and see if that fixes the problem

yeah, well i think its gonna require an expensive fix . the damned car just ate my key. and i didnt even really get to try anything. i just wiped down the key, and when i went to try to start it, the car did the same as before... it died. but, when i tried to remove the key, it wouoldn't come out. its stuck. i can turn the key back and forth, just cant pull it out.

im depressed now....

checked them. all seems fine.

i'll i'll clean up the cables and all and reconnect everything just to be sure thats not it.

i'm gonna have to wait till later to check anything though, cause i'm headed out for the day. i'll keep you guys posted with what happens later. thanks for the help so far :cheers:

its your key cylinder had the same thing happen when i had my 95 z28

Sorry to hear about that bro. Sounds like the inside of your cylinder must be pretty messed up fella. If you do it yourself though, it will save ya a couple bucks for sure. Shouldn't be too bad of an install if you choose to do it :D

well, as it sits now, i will probably end up trying the fix on my own. after a very quick google search i found this (post #2) : http://www.camaroz28.com/forums/show....php?p=6173837 he links a write-up on how to bypass VATS: http://www.shbox.com/1/vats_bypass.jpg

I'm somewhat considering the bypas, but i may just try to replace the key cylinder instead. they run ~$30 from Rock Auto, and that'll require a new key to be cut, which costs $25 based on what they said in that thread. so i'll only be set back around 60 bucks. hopefully that works out.

not sure which one i'm gonna do just yet though...

I may be mistaken but i believe you need to pull the steering wheel to replace the key cylinder.

well, i had a good day. i haven't tried doing anything with the car since i made this post, so i finally decided to go out and see what it was doing. when i went out to the car nothing was coming on: lights, etc.

so, being bored i just disconnected the battery, wiped down all the connections and all, and hooked it back up.

whada ya know, it started right up :D

so all day today its been running starting up perfectly normal again. dont know how to explain its behavior before :confused:. hopefully it doesnt start back up.

hope all is good

Good to hear, finally got the key out I see too lol

Sometimes we just get lucky my starter wasnt working at all i hit it a few times and it worked on my jeep. Then it was cranking really slowly for a few days after that and now it starts like its brand new all of a sudden gotta love the good feeling of it fixing itself

Shit. My keys both tested at 7.50 which is not one of the 15 values! Now what? Anybody? Bueler?

Ttt!!